We Make Our Own Compost

Our compost is produced from fruits and vegetables that are no longer good for sale, collected from about twenty grocery stores in the West Island of Montreal. These fruits and vegetables are returning to the land, less than 5 km from the grocery stores.

Once a week, the farmer must extract some of the compost from his compost bin to prepare a "bed" for incoming fruits and vegetables that a truck will unload. When the delivery is complete, everything is mixed with wood chips and put into the composter. This significantly reduces the need to add carbon-rich material to the compost to make it more absorbent and improve texture.

Between weekly deliveries, the composter must be visited 2 or 3 times in order to monitor the temperature (which can reach 72 ° C), adjust the ventilation and monitor the leachate level, or "waste juice", which accumulates in the three basins under the compost cells. The composter roof opens automatically to let steam escape.

At regular intervals, the leachate is pumped and poured back on the compost, while the activity of heat-producing bacteria contributes to evaporation. Since there is no animal material in the compost, the leachate is free of pathogens. The compost can therefore be spread on our fields.

In Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, where our fields are located, the clay soil is covered with very little organic matter. Adding compost will help, especially where gourd type plants are grown. Since the nitrogen-filled leachate has been put back into the compost several times, then evaporated, the final compost will be richer than compost found on the market. In addition, the soil structure and its ability to retain moisture will be improved.